Transform Your Workplace

Tanya Uyigue applied for a promotion she was qualified for and didn't get it. She asked why. Nobody ever told her. That silence became the starting point for her book, What Your Team Won't Tell You. It's written for the employees who can't safely give their managers honest feedback, and for the managers who were never trained to see what their people are seeing. Brandon and Tanya talk about what happens when a high performer keeps taking on more work while the goalposts keep moving. They get into the "safe bet" employee managers tend to promote, and what a senior leader really means when they say someone lacks "polish." Tanya also shares the moment she found out she'd been an absentee manager, from her own employee, as a joke, in front of her boss. You'll walk away with the questions to ask every new hire, and what to do if you recognize yourself in a few of these chapters. About our guest Tanya Uyigue is a career and workplace strategist, coach, and speaker based in Chicago. She's spent more than 20 years working across corporate and nonprofit settings, and she trained as a professional coach through the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC). Her content on workplace dynamics and management reaches a large audience on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, where people regularly share their own manager stories with her. Her new book, What Your Team Won't Tell You: The 7 Management Fails to Avoid, is out now from Berrett-Koehler. TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Intro 02:50 Why Tanya stopped being careful with her words 04:05 How she was passed over for a promotion with no feedback 07:10 What happened when a colleague she helped hire became her boss 08:15 Why she sat on her viral video for a month 11:00 Who the book is really written for 13:20 What "I played myself while they played me" means 15:00 What a "safe bet" employee is and why managers promote them 18:05 What leaders really mean when they say someone lacks "polish" 21:15 How Tanya found out she was an absentee manager 24:30 Why "never let your staff know what's going on" backfires 26:20 What to do when the problem is two levels above you 28:00 How to start strong with a new hire 29:55 What to do if you see yourself in the book 32:15 Why being direct is still the hardest part 34:20 Where to find Tanya and the book A QUICK GLIMPSE INTO OUR PODCAST Podcast: Transform Your Workplace, sponsored by Xenium HR Host: Brandon Laws In Brandon's own words: "The Transform Your Workplace podcast is your go-to source for the latest workplace trends, big ideas, and time-tested methods straight from the mouths of industry experts and respected thought-leaders." About Xenium HR Xenium HR is on a mission to transform workplaces by providing expert outsourced HR and payroll services for small and medium-sized businesses. With a people-first approach, Xenium helps organizations create thriving work environments where employees feel valued and supported. From navigating compliance to enhancing workplace culture, Xenium offers tailored solutions that empower growth and simplify HR. Whether managing employee relations, payroll processing, or implementing impactful training programs, Xenium is the trusted partner businesses rely on to elevate their workplace experience. Discover how Xenium can transform your workplace: Learn more Connect with Tanya Uyigue: Website LinkedIn Instagram TikTok YouTube Connect with Brandon Laws: LinkedIn Instagram About Connect with Xenium HR: Website LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube

Most leaders who carry everything already know they're doing it. Alli Murphy did. Four years ago on this show, she named her own patterns, from perfectionism to finding it easier to advocate for her team than for herself. She had a coach. It still nearly broke her. Alli is back to talk about what finally changed. She describes becoming what she calls the Chief Everything Officer, the leader that every decision and fire drill runs through. Then came the weekend a friend joked to her husband on a chairlift that Alli must be a figment of his imagination, since nobody had ever met her. She explains why "just say no" advice falls flat for leaders who were rewarded for the opposite, and why she runs mini-experiments instead, such as a week with no Slack or email in the first hour of the day. She also shares the question her coach asked that she couldn't answer: "What's your definition of enough for a workday?" For HR leaders who are a one-person department, Alli gets practical. List everything you own and question what's only there out of habit. Decide what enough looks like. Use a shutdown ritual so tomorrow starts with a plan instead of an inbox. About our guest Alli Murphy is a leadership coach and speaker who helps women directors and above step out of the Chief Everything Officer role. Through her business, Work & Thrive HQ, she runs The Elevate Lab, a 90-day coaching program, and a free community called the Non-Negotiables Club. Before going out on her own, Alli was a managing director and podcast host at Engage for Good, where she spoke on 700-person stages, led a corporate mastermind, and partnered with brands like Subaru, Hasbro, and Disney. She's a former collegiate athlete, grew up in Mexico City, and lives in Bend, Oregon. She's currently writing a book. TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Intro 02:15 Why Alli walked away from her managing director title 05:00 Why the ambition gap is really a support gap 06:10 How an acquisition made her the Chief Everything Officer 07:20 The chairlift joke that pushed her to get help 11:15 What's your definition of enough for a workday? 15:00 Where the pattern started 18:45 Process integrity vs. outcome integrity 21:05 How you still help when you stop doing it yourself 23:05 Why knowing your patterns isn't enough 25:55 What an HR department of one can do 29:10 Coach the leader or change the company? 30:20 What kept her from leaving sooner 32:05 Where to start A QUICK GLIMPSE INTO OUR PODCAST Podcast: Transform Your Workplace, sponsored by Xenium HR Host: Brandon Laws In Brandon's own words: "The Transform Your Workplace podcast is your go-to source for the latest workplace trends, big ideas, and time-tested methods straight from the mouths of industry experts and respected thought-leaders." About Xenium HR Xenium HR is on a mission to transform workplaces by providing expert outsourced HR and payroll services for small and medium-sized businesses. With a people-first approach, Xenium helps organizations create thriving work environments where employees feel valued and supported. From navigating compliance to enhancing workplace culture, Xenium offers tailored solutions that empower growth and simplify HR. Whether managing employee relations, payroll processing, or implementing impactful training programs, Xenium is the trusted partner businesses rely on to elevate their workplace experience. Discover how Xenium can transform your workplace: Learn more Connect with Alli Murphy: Website LinkedIn Instagram Newsletter The Elevate Lab Connect with Brandon Laws: LinkedIn Instagram About Connect with Xenium HR: Website LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube

Your Employee Did Their Research. It Was for the Wrong Industry. An employee walks in with AI research, fully confident they're owed back wages and penalties for missed 10-minute rest breaks. The research wasn't made up. It was valid information for a different industry, and it didn't apply to their employer. Xenium HR Director of HR Services, Nicole Blevins, is back to walk through what happened next. Her team didn't argue. They listened, asked where the information came from, checked it with Xenium's compliance team and a legal partner, then went back to the employee with what actually applied and a plan to make sure the breaks were happening. Brandon and Nicole also get into why this is showing up more often, from employees and managers alike, and why a leading question gets you the answer you were hoping for. Brandon admits his own worry about trusting these tools too much, and Nicole shares how to correct someone without turning it into a debate about who's right. If you lead people, assume your team is using AI. This conversation gives you a steady way to respond when their research lands on your desk. About our guest Nicole Blevins is the Director of HR Services at Xenium HR, where she works directly with client businesses and their leaders. She has more than 10 years of experience in HR and is a familiar voice on Transform Your Workplace. TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Intro 02:30 Why Brandon wonders if he's trusting AI too much 03:05 How employees are showing up with AI answers they trust completely 03:40 The missed rest break claim and the demand for back wages 05:15 Why the research was valid but for the wrong industry 06:05 How missing context changes the answer AI gives you 07:30 Why Nicole got curious instead of correcting the employee 09:35 How to tell someone their research doesn't apply 11:05 Does HR end up looking like it's on the employer's side 13:25 Why this is coming up more with employees and managers 15:05 Why free AI tools give you weaker answers 16:15 How a leading question gets you the answer you wanted 16:50 What managers should do when AI research lands on their desk 18:10 Why access to information isn't the same as understanding it A QUICK GLIMPSE INTO OUR PODCAST Podcast: Transform Your Workplace, sponsored by Xenium HR Host: Brandon Laws In Brandon's own words: "The Transform Your Workplace podcast is your go-to source for the latest workplace trends, big ideas, and time-tested methods straight from the mouths of industry experts and respected thought-leaders." About Xenium HR Xenium HR is on a mission to transform workplaces by providing expert outsourced HR and payroll services for small and medium-sized businesses. With a people-first approach, Xenium helps organizations create thriving work environments where employees feel valued and supported. From navigating compliance to enhancing workplace culture, Xenium offers tailored solutions that empower growth and simplify HR. Whether managing employee relations, payroll processing, or implementing impactful training programs, Xenium is the trusted partner businesses rely on to elevate their workplace experience. Discover how Xenium can transform your workplace: Learn more Connect with Nicole Blevins: LinkedIn Connect with Brandon Laws: LinkedIn Instagram About Connect with Xenium HR: Website LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube

Most leaders treat problem behavior at work as a people problem. Dustin Snyder treats it as a design problem. Dustin came up through HR, then took both the VP of HR and president seats at a 600-employee manufacturing division that had been losing money for years. The turnaround taught him something uncomfortable. The HR toolkit he had been trained on, including progressive discipline, was built to limit liability, not to change behavior. That led him to human systems theory, the finding that behavior at scale is a rational adaptation to the environment. If people don't change when you ask them to, it's because the environment hasn't changed. In this conversation, Brandon and Dustin get into why engagement surveys return symptoms instead of root causes, the UPS survey that hit record scores a few months before a companywide strike, the skilled trades team that was quitting over pride rather than pay, and the rural energy company that was hiding the exact thing its best candidates wanted. If absenteeism, turnover, or disengagement keeps coming back no matter what you try, this one gives you a different place to look. About our guest Dustin Snyder is a consultant and the author of Sink or Swim: The Human Systems Theory Approach to Business Performance, the first of three planned books. He spent his career in HR before taking on both the VP of HR and president roles at the American division of a global metals company, roughly 600 employees and $300 million in annual revenue. That turnaround became the basis for SWIM, short for strategic workforce insight mapping, the process he now uses to trace systemic employee behavior back to its root causes. He has worked with manufacturers, hospitals, software companies, and higher education. TIMESTAMPS 01:45 Why the goals were never the problem 03:55 How a losing manufacturing division changed his management style 05:20 Why the HR toolkit limits liability instead of changing behavior 06:35 How stricter attendance policies produce worse attendance 11:30 What human systems theory means in plain language 12:45 Why engagement surveys hand you symptoms instead of root causes 14:20 How UPS hit record engagement scores right before a strike 15:45 Why a skilled trades team was quitting over pride, not pay 17:35 Why most consulting engagements fade the moment the invoice clears 23:35 How triangulation spreads dysfunction through an organization 26:15 What a top performer really costs when they leave 28:45 What leadership is actually responsible for when behavior is a system output 31:40 How a rural energy company turned its weakness into its hiring pitch 34:35 Where AI helps with this work and where trust makes it fail 38:30 The one mindset shift to try next week A QUICK GLIMPSE INTO OUR PODCAST Podcast: Transform Your Workplace, sponsored by Xenium HR Host: Brandon Laws In Brandon's own words: "The Transform Your Workplace podcast is your go-to source for the latest workplace trends, big ideas, and time-tested methods straight from the mouths of industry experts and respected thought-leaders." About Xenium HR Xenium HR is on a mission to transform workplaces by providing expert outsourced HR and payroll services for small and medium-sized businesses. With a people-first approach, Xenium helps organizations create thriving work environments where employees feel valued and supported. From navigating compliance to enhancing workplace culture, Xenium offers tailored solutions that empower growth and simplify HR. Whether managing employee relations, payroll processing, or implementing impactful training programs, Xenium is the trusted partner businesses rely on to elevate their workplace experience. Discover how Xenium can transform your workplace: Learn more Connect with Dustin Snyder: LinkedIn Connect with Brandon Laws: LinkedIn Instagram About Connect with Xenium HR: Website LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube

Most managers have one move in a hard conversation. They tell people what to do. It works until it doesn't, and when it stops working, most of us just tell harder. Executive coach Heather Graves-Ramsey lays out three kinds of leadership conversations. Managing and mentoring both push. Coaching pulls. The difference is whether you walk in with the answer or walk in believing the person across from you can find it. She explains why the pulling conversation is so hard to learn, why it can feel like you're not doing your job, and why the manager who gets the least credit is often doing the most good. Host, Brandon Laws, pushes on the obvious question. If anyone can get an answer in seconds from AI, what is a leader for? Heather's case is that the value is not in having answers. It is in the intuitive read, the follow-up nobody else would ask, and seeing something in a person they can't yet see in themselves. You'll also hear her POWER model for preparing a conversation you're dreading, the three levels of listening, a trick for getting your own head out of the room, and a short list of questions to try with your team this week. Plus the story of the 11-year-old client who hissed at her for three sessions, and what finally broke through. About our guest Heather Graves-Ramsey is an executive coach and leadership development trainer and the owner of Coach to Brilliance, based in the Portland, Oregon area. She is a Professional Certified Coach through the International Coaching Federation and trained through the Coaches Training Institute, with a background that spans business, counseling, and education, including time as a school-based mental health counselor. She works with individuals and teams on communication, retention, and leadership impact, and she is active in community leadership in Lake Oswego. TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Intro and a word from Xenium HR 02:00 Why managing and mentoring both push, and coaching pulls 05:08 Why most leaders don't know which conversation to have 06:25 Watching a leader push when the moment calls for a pull 07:55 How problem solvers learn to ask instead of answer 10:20 Why leaders still matter when AI has all the answers 13:30 How to get better at asking powerful questions 16:12 Why new leaders can't hear their own intuition 17:45 How to quiet your own head and stay present 21:15 Why silence after a question is a good sign 22:50 Naming what isn't being said in the room 24:45 The 11-year-old who hissed 26:45 The POWER model for preparing a hard conversation 34:25 Questions to try with your team this week 36:20 Closing and where to find Heather Resources from this episode Powerful one-on-one questions [Download] Levels of Listening [Download] A QUICK GLIMPSE INTO OUR PODCAST Podcast: Transform Your Workplace, sponsored by Xenium HR Host: Brandon Laws In Brandon's own words: "The Transform Your Workplace podcast is your go-to source for the latest workplace trends, big ideas, and time-tested methods straight from the mouths of industry experts and respected thought-leaders." About Xenium HR Xenium HR is on a mission to transform workplaces by providing expert outsourced HR and payroll services for small and medium-sized businesses. With a people-first approach, Xenium helps organizations create thriving work environments where employees feel valued and supported. From navigating compliance to enhancing workplace culture, Xenium offers tailored solutions that empower growth and simplify HR. Whether managing employee relations, payroll processing, or implementing impactful training programs, Xenium is the trusted partner businesses rely on to elevate their workplace experience. Discover how Xenium can transform your workplace: Learn more Connect with Heather Graves-Ramsey: LinkedIn Website Coach to Brilliance on LinkedIn Connect with Brandon Laws: LinkedIn Instagram About Connect with Xenium HR: Website LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube